The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-05-23
LATEST NEWS.
A Full budget of Notes and Com
m nfS.

By the Claus Spreckels, which arrived
from the Coast on Saturday last, we have
dates to May 9Th, and by the Planter yes
terday to the 10th inclusive. There Is not
a great deal of news of international i'm
portance The Nanaimo coal pit accident
proves to have been one of the most serious
on record. In the pit at the time of the
explosion of fire damp there were 101 white
men and IS Chinese, all of whom lost their
lives The white men were nearly all from
Wales and Yorkshire, England, but few
Scotch miners were also among them
They leave over one hundred orphans be-
sides widows. There were number OF
Youths and unmarried men in the pit.
Subscriptions are being raised for the relief
of the bereaved survivors, and the Cana
dian Parliament will be invited to appro-
pirate money in aid. This has been
serious blow to the mining industry OF
Vancouver Island.
The ADVERTISER was in error in its esti-
mate OF the course the House OF Commons
would take on the Times " breach of
privilege After a debate in which prece-
dents were quoted, an amendment moved
by Sir Edward Clarke, that the House de-
cline to treat the b" Times y publication as
a breach of privilege was agreed to. This
followed an adverse division on an amend
ment by Mr.. Gladstone, and was therefore
the result of party action. The question
was decided upon party lines without re-
ference to It's merits. Five Liberal-UniOn-
lists voted for Clarke's motion, and twenty
seven were absent. This is regarded as an
evidence of growing division in the ranks
of that party.
Lord Salisbury declared, in a speech at
the Goshen banquet given by his cOnstit-
uents, that the Government should pro-
perly be styled Unionist Administration.
The term Conservative was misapplied;
yet at the Imperial Conference he made a
speech on the New Hebrides question
which greatly irritated the Colonial dele
gates, and tends in the direction of i'm
perial disruption instead of unity. He in
timated that the demands of Australia
hampered England in her negotiations
with France. He maintained that the
colonlsts made grave mistake in not ac-
cepting the compromise which the Earl of
Roseberry proposed, and which the Pre-
sion of the evils complained of by the Aus
tralians as arising from the sending of
French cOnvicts to the South Pacific, and
the rejection of which made it difficult for
the English Government to approach
France with any request that she curtail
her liberty of action as to the uses to which
she should put her own territory.
g Surely exclaimed the Marquis of Sails
bury, " the colonies do not desire to make
the recidiviste agitation a casus belh.'
This elected a warm rejoinder from Sir
Graham Berry, Agent-Generaf for Victoria,
who twitted the Prime Minister with hay
ing made speech " that would have been
most excellent coming from the French
Premier"
The policy of the British Government in
the New Hebrides affair, as explained by
Sir Henry Holland, Secretary of State for
the Colonies, is most unsatisfactory. He
said that the Government hoped to arrange
with France for Joint naval commission
for the government of the New Hebrides.
The commission, it was stated, would have
power to protect settlers, traders and mis-
sionaries, and would also be empowered to
land marines, to punish natives for COM
hitting outrages and to maintain order.
The marines, however, are to be withdrawn
when the special work for which they were
landed was accomplished If the scheme
proposed was accepted by France, it was
to be arranged that the French garrisons
now occupying the chief harbors in the
New Hebrides should retire. The Aus
tralIans, all without exception, deprecated
any policy which even seemed to recognize
French pretensions in the New Hebrides
Itwas in support of this dual arrangement
which would inevitably lead to trouble,
that Lord Salisbury made the speech above
referred to. 1t is about as unwise and as
unstatesmanlike a proposal perhaps as
could be submitted to any representative
body.
The conviction is steadily gaining ground
that Germany and France will come to
blows before the summer is past. Berlin
dispatches of May 9TH state that the from
tier posts on each side have ceased to ex-
change courtesies, and act as if war were
to break out any minute These dispatches
say:
1.-The police force in Alsace- Lorraine has
been strengthened and special watches set
on French malcontents. Under this sys-
tenn arrests and explosions are increasing.
A degree issued by Prince Hohenlohe,
Governor of Alsace-L Lorraine, revokes the
functions of Mayor Humbert of Busch
horn. Among the notable expulsions are
those of Herr DeLigny, managing director
of Schiltingheim factory; De Treves
from Metz; Civil Engineer Romeil from
Renfeld, and two brothers named Schwitt-
hardt, eabinet-makers, from Strassburg.
g The Metz Gazette announces that the
authorities will dissolve all societies and
clubs refusing to admit Germans, and will
endeavor to enforce the exclusive use of
German as the official language through
out Alsace-Lorraine. The ''Tagblatt" adj
vocates & plan to colonize the province by
the expatriation of French sympathizers,
the purchase of land through the State
assisted by the banks, the settlement of
German farmers and special grants to sol
diers of the reserve. In the mean time,
there is no state of siege in Alsace-Lor-
raine, but the actual regime is quite thor
Ough. French artisans hitherto emnIoved